


LOONA comes out to The Ellen DeGeneres Show

by loosenoodlepoodledoodle



Series: Adoration of LOONA [2]
Category: Ellen Degeneres Show RPF, Heart Attack - LOONA (Music Video), LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Horror, LGBTQ Themes, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-10-01 17:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20350753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loosenoodlepoodledoodle/pseuds/loosenoodlepoodledoodle
Summary: LOONA follows in the footsteps of BTS, arriving at The Ellen DeGeneres Show. But nothing slips past Ellen.





	LOONA comes out to The Ellen DeGeneres Show

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies to Ellen. I started writing and soon needed an antagonist.
> 
> Here's a link to "Heart Attack" in case you need the visual:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVVfMFS3mgc

“Well, there’s twelve of you, so statistically speaking at least one of you has gotta be gay.”

I wince. She’s so direct with the question, it takes my breath away. Are all Americans like this? Then I remember my year here. Yep, they really are.

I try to cover for the others. Some of them look really freaked out.

“We’re really not, none of us are. And that’s a really rude question.”

Ellen fixes me with her eyes. They’re so blue, their intensity scares me. And I’m from a country that strenuously avoids eye contact. No wonder I’m getting chills.

“Hey, I didn’t ask you who it is. I was just breaking the ice.”

I don’t like being put on the defensive like this. Who the hell is she to ask that of us? Shouldn’t she know the risk it puts us in? We’re having a rough time of it as it is. If the truth came out, the scandal would utterly ruin us back home. And we can’t possibly make enough money overseas to compensate.

Ellen backs off, sticking to our preferred questions. Everyone else seems to calm down with a discussion of our positive message to the world. But the others’ English isn’t nearly as good as mine, and Ellen’s translator had the sense to keep her mouth shut. So they don’t yet see the danger we’re all in.

Dread builds up inside me. I feel the direction the interview is going. She says she wants to play some of our music videos, and I know the exact one she’s going to start with.

But it really is such a great song. I try losing myself in it since I can’t just run away from this stage, from my friends and all these heartless strangers. My unease returns to me as soon as it ends, snapping back like a broken rubber band.

“I really liked that,” says Ellen. “I found it very interesting—”

_ Of course you would._

“—and I’m curious as to how you interpret it. From your point of view.”

Yves and Chuu give voice to the lie that there was nothing romantic intended, that it was a strictly platonic crush. See how Chuu tried to dance like Yves? She’s just a fangirl, that’s all.

Ellen’s not buying any of it, and neither is the audience.

“How about you,” she says, gesturing to them. “Any alternate interpretations?”

The verdict is swift, immediate in its condemnation. “Why are you denying it?” asks one audience member. “I’m so sick of this endless queerbaiting,” says another. Heads nod, voices murmur in agreement. Ellen is in a strong position now.

“While I appreciate the support you’ve given to the LGBTQ community, I have to agree. There’s something immoral about setting up this obviously gay music video, and then lying about it. There’s nothing wrong with two straight people portraying a gay relationship in art, but to give solace to millions—”

_ Millions?_

“—of people around the world, only to deny what it is you’re doing. That’s harsh, and I can’t believe it fits with your motivations—”

Next to me Yeojin whispers into my ear.

“Why is she doing this? I thought we were just promoting our comeback.”

“_Shh_. At least we performed before this and not after.”

I agree with her, but I don’t say anything more. Chuu looks distraught over there, in her spot. I can even see her shaking a little. But Yves looks angrier than I’ve ever seen her. She’s so still, it’s like she’s been frozen out of time. She’s going to injure herself if she doesn’t relax. She’s trying to stare down Ellen, but Ellen doesn’t skip a beat. I imagine the battle of wills between them, and I hope Yves wins. Alas, nothing can withstand the gaze of those piercing blue eyes, and Yves turns away.

I knew we were taking a big risk with what we were doing. Not just by going on _Ellen_, but the entire Loona project. How can you walk atop the edge of a knife for so long? Either you’re cut, or you fall.

JinSoul decides to speak up. “Why are you making such a big deal about this? Can’t you just leave us alone? You didn’t ask BTS all this kind of stuff!”

“They didn’t set off the alarm bells like you have,” answers Ellen.

This pisses JinSoul off, so we get a few moments of confusingly translated conversation in which to recover. I look at Yeojin next to me. She keeps looking at the others, straining her neck to see their reactions to this madness. I put my arm around her and lean in.

“Stop looking, you’ll give it away,” I whisper. She straightens up, her short intake of breath exhibiting her worry. I straighten up as well, only to be caught by Ellen. God, why do her eyes have to be so freaking pretty?

She continues her music video exposé, showing off “New” and “love4eva.” Good. Let her be distracted by those. She’s probably barking up the wrong tree, anyways.

I don’t know how deep Yves and Chuu’s relationship goes. I have my suspicions, of course I do. There’s too much of a parallel between how they met and “Heart Attack.” But I’ve never walked in on them kissing or anything like that. No, that was somebody else.

Ellen continues trying to tease the tiniest morsel out of us, but none of us bites. It’s excruciating. I want it to stop, I want to give up and go back home to obscurity. Or better yet, back to those heady days when the project first began, when anything seemed possible. Before all these rumors began to fly. Before things started to go wrong.

The real torture is not being able to turn my head. If I do, I know I’ll give away their secret. I want to know so badly how they’re handling this. But Ellen and the audience will see who I’m looking at and it’ll all be over. I’ll have betrayed their trust, on fucking _foreign_ television, for Christ’s sake. I can’t do that to them. I love them too much.

Ellen closes out the interview disappointed. I can’t even look directly at the audience as we say our goodbyes to the cameras. I can hear their mutterings. Some of them have figured it out.

My heart plummets. I feel like Katniss onstage after Peeta’s confession. There’s no way this interview can play so well, I’m sure of it. At least if this were the real Hunger Games, there’d be a light at the end of the tunnel. Now, I think our careers are over. The ridicule will begin anew. I might as well be on Mix Nine again, in front of that damned man. Hell, I might as well be dead.

Yeojin tries to comfort me as we go backstage. She’s grown a lot these past couple of years, but she’s still so naïve. We’ve sheltered her, protected her. Maybe that’ll be enough to save her career.

She looks so innocent.

I bump right into JinSoul’s back. The others are all standing around in a circle, discussing what just happened. JinSoul steps aside to make room for us, and I put my arm around Yeojin’s shoulder. We really could be sisters.

Our conversation is brief and heated, weaving between denial and despair. They keep looking to me for answers, but what can I say? I think we’re done for, but I don’t want to admit it to them.

Ellen arrives with some staffers. She gives us an anodyne apology and reassures us her team will cut most of the interview out. Relief passes through us, but through some faster than others. Yeojin brightens up at my side and says, “Good, you’ll be all right.” To my horror, I see too late who she was addressing.

They’re standing together. They’re practically holding hands, too. Ellen catches them out, and my blood freezes. I can only watch as the color leaves their faces. Everything is going dark, but I hurt too much inside to wonder why. I can’t see the others anymore, just Ellen, Yeojin, and our star-crossed lovers. Yeojin starts to say she’s sorry, then suddenly she’s gone. Ellen disappears too, everything except for her eyes. They’ve become blue flames, dead candles in the dark illuminating nothing but my friends’ doom.

_ What is this? Why is this happening?_

I can’t speak. The blue flames have spread, piercing me, devouring my flesh and leaving only my ghost. The other two are still here, but here has changed. Cold air rushes through a glacial valley. Its frozen walls close in, forming a crevice, then a cave. My friends are near death, only kept alive by some warmth within them. They stand together shivering, holding each other. My God! They are so beautiful together. I wish they hadn’t needed to keep it a secret.

My essence slips through a crack in the ice, and I plunge into an abyss. I never get to see how their story ends. Instead I fall and fall, until I—

I wake up freezing. We had the air conditioner on all night, but somehow I sweat through my pajamas. I get up and rush out of the bedroom as quietly as I can. I towel myself off, leaving my clothes in the hamper. I’m only wearing my underwear and a blanket I grab from the hall closet.

I sit down on the couch. I’m jittery, not only from the cold but from the nightmare. I almost shriek when I hear a sound from behind me.

It’s those two, emerging from their hiding spot, after another tryst. They ask me what happened, but how do I tell them that? It was such a strange dream. Instead, I tell them I love them.

**Author's Note:**

> I've never had a response like this to one of my stories, so I thought I would go through my writing process for you. I knocked this story out one evening in six hours. Some of the ideas for it had percolated through my head the previous week. I had watched Form of Therapy's big Loona playlist and enjoyed it thoroughly. But then a nagging thought entered my mind. It seemed like some people had really attached a lot of meaning to Loona, but the group/company was trying to maintain plausible deniability or something. It made me doubt their sincerity. "Are they posers, or are they legit?" was the question in my mind. Somehow that led me to thinking up the Ellen scenario.
> 
> When I began writing, I first made notes for an hour. I looked at a profiles site, then I typed up a paragraph-long concept. Finally, I wrote an outline that was really just a list of what was going to happen in order. Then I started writing for real, for four hours. The last hour was me proofreading and editing multiple times, and thinking of tags, etc. when I was posting it here.


End file.
